Moving with wine

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jas3019

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Well I'm moving to a new house and am curious for some recommendations on how best to move my wine. Currently I have a 5 gallon full carboy that's ready to bottle, a 5 gallon carboy that should probably be reracked off the lees but is only a month old, and a 3/1 gallon batch that is also only a month old and should probably be reracked.

I'm thinking: bottle the wine that's ready because I'm assuming it'll be easier to move 25 bottles than moving a big carboy. Rerack both other batches so any sediment doesn't get back into suspension.

Any thoughts on this or recommendations for how to move these? I guess just very carefully in my own car..maybe wrapped in a bunch of blankets?
 
I too am having to move with several carboys.I've chosen to bottle those that are ready to bottle- it's better to lose a bottle or 2 through a move(possible breakage) than the possibility of a whole carboy.I do have 3 that I want to bulk age longer so I've purchased solid bungs for them. I also have 10-1 gal. that I want to leave in the carboys so I went to my local wine supplier and asked if he had any of the boxes that the gal. come in. They come 4 to a case, so I got 3 empty cases from him.
Depending on the distance of your move and how long you wish to keep yours in carboys I would rack off the lees before moving. Wrap the carboys well! winter coats are great for padding and if they fit in your car I would move them that way rather than in a moving truck.
 
Can you get the carboys in a seperate car? The back of a moving van is no place for open carboys.

When I moved, I had about 8 cases of my wine. The moving company told me that they wouldn't allow that much liquid in their trucks, but I gave the driver and helper a case and they packed it in real tight. No problems.
 
I agree that it's a good idea to rack it first. The other thing that protects a carboy is if you have some plastic milk carriers. They protect a carboy from being bumped and are easy for 1 or 2 people to move around. We often do this when we are moving carboys from the garage and into the dumbwaiter to get them down into the winery.
 
For the smaller carboys, tie a piece of string or wire tightly over the bung to hold it in place in the carboy. This is easy to do if it's the type of carboy with one or two handles on the neck. Then if they slosh around or fall over, the wine will stay intact.

I was transporting my rhubarb wine home to my parents place to put in their garage for ageing. When I got there I found that despite my best efforts one of the 1 gallon carboys had actually fallen over in the bag it was in. Fortunately I had a piece of wire over the bung and nothing was lost.
 
Sorry for the delay. I've been moving everything but the wine this past weekend and just haven't had time to get back online. I'll be moving the carboys by myself so that will make things better. Unfortunately I don't have milk crates but I do have some empty boxes that I can use. And tying a string on the bung is a great idea!

Thanks for all the help!
 
Rear floorboard, pack stuff around them, which will be convenient since you're moving. If some sediment gets stirred up, just let it sit for a few weeks at the new house. You'll probably be busy with other stuff anyway. I've transported carboys of wine several times.
 

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